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ST. JAMES - State Representative-elect Paul Torkelson admits that his victory in the House District 21B race was a tougher battle than he expected.

Torkelson, 56, a St. James area farmer, defeated DFL challenger Bob Skillings of New Ulm by 525 votes in a legislative district that includes Brown, Watonwan and part of Redwood counties.

Torkelson received 9,111 votes from the district's 96 precincts while Skillings polled 8,586 votes. Torkelson trailed Skillings 6,777 to 6,543 in Brown County but outdistanced his challenger 1,156 to 847 in Watonwan and 1,412 to 962 in Redwood County to secure the victory.

"It was a tight race, much tighter than we had anticipated. It seems like the Democrats overall have had a very good night so I feel very fortunate to be a winning Republican," Torkelson reflected.

"I'm thrilled to win. It's been a long hard battle. I've been working very hard all the way through the district and all the way for a number of months in trying to win this race," he continued.

"I'm thankful especially to the voters that supported me and cast their ballots in my favor. I appreciate every one I got. I certainly also appreciate the help I've gotten from my family, and many, many volunteers that have worked with me in this campaign in passing out literature and doing all sorts of things, phone calls just right down the list. It's taken a lot of support to win this race."

His challenger's strong showing in Brown County was a bit of a surprise for Torkelson.

"I thought we were going to win with a more comfortable margin than we did, and my congratulations go out to Bob for his hard work. We ran a good, clean race, and it was really a pleasure running this race."

Torkelson said he's ready to get started getting adjusted to his new role as a legislator.

"Well, we have some orientation meetings. Being a first-timer, I certainly have a lot to learn about how everything works, but I know I'll have great support from [State Rep.] Marty Seifert, my companion in [District] 21A,"

"He will help me get my feet on the ground. I'll also have to decide what committees we're going to try to get on, and then take a look at what legislation we might want to start working on."

Ron Larsen can be reached at rlarsen@nujournal.com